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SOME REMARKS 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 






GENERAL DAVID COBB, 



DRLITEBED AT THE 



TAUNTON LYCEUM, 



JULY 2d, 1830. 



By Hon. FRANCIS BAYLIES. 



FROM THX NrW ENOLAXD HISTORICAL AND OENEALOOICAL REOISTER. 




ALBANY : 

J. MUNSELL, 78 STATE STREET. 

1864. 



I I ■ " ■ 



GENERAL DAVID COBB. 



To pronounce the eulogium of a man of worth, distinguished and 
honorable in public and private life, venerated by tlie people, and 
loved by his friends, is a work grateful to the heart — yet is also a 
task of infinite delicacy. If a portrait be presented in which a gene- 
ral resemblance is perceived — yet if it be caricatured into deformity, 
or embellished with beauties unknown to the original — all will dis- 
cover a malignity of purpose, or a complimentary subserviency to the 
feelings of living friends, equally at war with truth. 

The poet Southey wrote a beautiful life of Horatio Nelson. He 
presented his subject as a hero, — lofty, magnanimous, generous, hu- 
mane, intrepid, disinterested and patriotic — yet he shaded the pic- 
ture — and by relating truly, one horrible act of his life, the dazzling 
brightness of his splendid character was fearfully eclipsed. He laid 
open the terrible operation of the passions on a pure and noble 
heart, and for a moment exhibited the hero of the Nile as a tyrant 
and a ruflBan, — yet for disclosing a solitary dereliction, for directing 
the eye to one dark spot in a blaze of light, Southe}' was thought more 
bold than prudent, — more honest than wise — but had he withheld the 
disclosure, he would have falsified history, and lost all just title to 
public confidence. 

When it is the happy fortune of the writer to be able to present a 
.politician without deceit, a statesman without ambition, a patriot 
without violence, and a warrior without ferocity — to exhibit the por- 
traiture of genius by a description of its efforts and its excellencies, 
without being compelled to display the ravages of the passions — the 
unblemished page of such history, unstained with crime, will be 
unsullied with tears. 

The distinguished man of whom I am about to speak was not free 
from faults, but his faults left no stings of remorse, their fruits 
brought into this world neither present woe, nor future misery. 

*Hon. Francis Baylies, son of Hon. William Baylies, M. D., was born in Taunton, 
Oct. 1(), 1783. Was Register of Probate, Cliarg6 des Affaires to Buenos Ayres, and 
Member of Congress. He died Oct. 28, 1852, aged 09. He published in 1830, 
An Historical Memoir of the Colony of New Plymouth, in two volumes, octavo. See 
Reg. vii, '.17; Knu-rys Ministry of Taunton, i. -')'2. In ViWYuima' s jjmerican Medical 
Biography, pp. Hii-l(Hl, published in 1^40, is a memoir of Hon. David Cobb, fur- 
nisLed by him, we presume, at a later date. — Editob. 



4 General David Cobb. 

Gen. David Cobb was born in this town* in the year 1748. His 
lineage was ancient and respectable. His ancestors were amongst 
our early settlers, and lived and died here. 

In one of our early catalogues of proprietors and purchasers 
appears the name of John Cobb,* as early as 1656. One of his sons 
bore his name. He was married June 13, 16*16, to Jane Woodward. 
One of his sons bore the name of Morgan, who married a Willis — he 
was the father of Thomas Cobb, a magistrate and legislator, born in 
1105. Thomas Cobb was the father of the general. The mother of 
General Cobb was a Leonard, the daughter of James Leonard, and 
the granddaughter of James Leonard, for many years a representa- 
tive of this town in the general court, who died in 172*1. The last 
was the second son of James Leonard, the common ancestor of that 
family, who came to these parts in 1652. 

It is easy to see how in the course of this descent he became con- 
nected by the ties of blood with the greater part of our inhabi- 
tants, and by what strong attachments he was bound to the spot 
which gave him birth, and which was also the residence, birth-place, 
home — and contained the graves of his kindred. 

He was a favorite of his father, who designing him for a liberal 
education, placed him early in life at school. Master Marsh, a cele- 
brated school master at Old Braintree (now Quincy) prepared him 
for the college, to which he was admitted in the summer of 1762, 
during the administration of President Holyoke, by whom he was 
particularly regarded, and highly estimated, both for talent and 
moral worth. His chum or room-mate during his college life was one 
who was afterwards a celebrated popular orator, the late Dr. Charles 
Jarvis. He was graduated in 1766. After leaving the university 
he commenced the stud}' of medicine at Boston, under the instruction 
of Dr. Perkins, a celebrated physician of that day. An industrious 
student, and possessing a peculiar practical aptitude for several 
branches of the profession, when he left his instructor he was 
accomplished in his art ; knowing in its ancient lore and its modern 
improvements. His excellent education, native sagacity, and quick- 
ness of mind enabled him in the outset of life to compete with those 
whose skill had been perfected by years of practice and long expe- 
rience. His first essay was made at Boston under flattering circum- 
stances, and with hopeful prospects of success. 

Induced by the anxious wishes of his father, he abandoned the no- 
ble field for the successful prosecution of the healing art which Bos- 
ton afi"orded, and returned to this county. 

While pursuing the profession in our village, and in the surround- 
ing country, the elements of the revolution began to move — ardent 
and enthusiastic, it was not for him to resist the workings of that 
mighty spirit which agitated a nation. He brought to the contro- 
versy the energies of youth, a deep knowledge of our political rights, 

* Gen. Cobb was born at Attleborougb, Sept. 14, 1748. See William.s's Medi- 
cal Biography, p. 82, and Emery'.s Ministry of Taunton, i. 237. He was not a de- 
scendant of John Cobb as above stated, but of Austin or Augustine Cobb. Jolin 
Cobb, of Taunton, who married Jane Woodward, is not known to have been related 
to Austin. This John was a son of Henry Cobb of Barnstable, as we learn from a 
genealogy of the Barnstable Cobbs, by Amos Otis, Esq., published in the Barn- 
ttable Patriot, Aug. 5 to Sept. 2, 1862. He had no son Morgan. — Editok. 



General David Cobb. 6 

i\ui\ all llic (Midiiisiiisin of oiio conscious of rijjlit, and slrtipplinp for 
lihcMty. lie was placed in tlic very front rank of onr patriotic citi- 
zens. 'I'lioni^li yomiLT, the eyes of tlie people \ver(! already tnrrn-d to 
liini. lie was one of those Ixild spirits who in a p<Tiod of impending' 
disasters and terrilit- perils, are called forth with tlxMr loudest voices 
to assume the place and th(> rank which in such days nought hut the 
hij^rhest talent can assume, and which then will be conlidcl to none 
except to such na can show the legitimate title. The hold-faced 
impudence of the demagogue then quails before the united force of 
talent and of virtue. The pretenders and impostors disappear — 
and presumption and ignorance are no longer found in the high places 
of society. 

The general court which assembled in May, 1774, having been 
dissolved by General Oage, then the Royal Governor, another was 
summoned to meet in the October following, to which he was elected 
from this Town, as the colleague of Robert Treat Paine, a signer of 
the Declaration of Independence. 

It was not for him, however, to be satisfied with the passive sup- 
port which could be given to a good cause by the mere services of a 
civilian. He sought for more active duties — he was impatient to 
share the perils and the glory of the camp, and when the opposition 
assumed the character of regular resistance on military principles, 
he assumed the sword, and entered the army in 1777, as lieutenant- 
colonel of a continental regiment, commanded by Col. Uenry Jack- 
son. In this regiment he encountered some hard service, particularly 
in New Jersey and on Rhode Island, where he led wliat may be 
called a forlorn hope, to delay with 20 men the progress of a Hessian 
regiment of cavalry. 

His activity and talent, and high military qualities, attracted the 
attention of the commander-in-chief, whose peculiar excellence it was 
to judge rightly of tlu; characters (jf men, and he was soon called to 
his fanjily as his aid. There he remained until the termination of 
the war, although he was appointed to tli(? chief command of the regi- 
ment in which he had entered the service, and left the army a full 
colonel and a brigadier-general by brevet. 

He was with ^Vashington during all his greater operations — and 
during many of the trying situations in which that great commander 
was placed. He was with him at the time of the treason of Arnold 
— the capture of Cornwallis — and when the army maddened by neg- 
lect, had resolved to turn their swords upon the congress, and 
redress their own wrongs. 

The councils in which he assisted were no petty caballings for the 
miserable purposes of faction and of office. They were the delibera- 
tions of patriots and of heroes devising schemes to emancipate a 
nation, and rescue millions. 

They fought no battles on paper — they issiied no swelling mani- 
festoes — they applied themselves to their mighty tasks with the wis- 
dom of sages and the energies of demi-gods. Early in 1784, (ieneral 
Cobb returned to his home and resumed his profession. He had now 
seen life in all its varieties — in the city, in the country, and in the 
camp — in the highest circles of fashion, and in the obscurest recesses 
of poverty. He had been associated with the men of other countries — 



6 General David Cobb. 

the warriors of Frederick the Great wliose lives had been passed be- 
neath tents, and in marches, and battles, of the fiery-spirited Polanders 
still wearing the swords which they had aimed at the bosom of their 
king — but striving here to sink the odious character of assassins and 
regicides, and to take that of the champions of freedom. He was the 
associate too of many of those remarkable men who, in the early 
days of the French revolution were placed at its head. 

He was not only the associate, but the intimate and confidential 
friend of Washington, Green, Lincoln, Knox and Hamilton. 

By this extensive acquaintance with every variety of the human 
character, he had acquired a knowledge of motives, and an insight 
into the means by which men might be influenced — and he soon had 
occasion to call into use all the advantages of hia experimental 
knowledge. 

Soon after his return from the army, he had received from Gover- 
nor Hancock an appointment to the bench of the court of common 
pleas, and was elected by the legislature to the office of major-gene- 
ral of the fifth division of the Massachusetts militia — thus uniting in 
his person the chief civil and military functions of the county. 

A generation have arisen who know no other times tliau such as 
are peaceful, tranquil and happy. They look around them, they see 
fair and cultivated fields — the labors of the husbandman crowned 
with plenty — rewarded with competence. They hear in all directions 
the sounds of prosperous industry'. The splendid mansions of the man 
of wealth rises in all its imposing grandeur, adorned with all the 
embellishments which wealth can bestow. The decorations of taste 
are brought home to the huts of poverty — the means of comfortable 
living are within the reach of all — want is driven from the poor 
man's door — all lie down at night with the consciousness of security, 
and rise with freshened hopes on the morrow, to commence another 
day of prosperous exertion. 

I will now turn you back to other times, and other scenes. 

The sacrifices made by this state during the war of the revolution 
were immense — personal property had disappeared — trade was uuset- 
tled — manufactures were not commenced — the sources of wealth 
were exhausted — the state debt was so great that the payment of 
the interest only, occasioned a serious embarrassment in the finances 
— the lands were deteriorating daily, as there was no market for 
surpliisses, and of course no encouragement to cultivate — buildings 
were falling into decay from the want of means to repair them — the 
paper currency which had flooded the country had sank to its intrin- 
sic value, which was notliing, and there was no substitute. Private 
credit had nearly ceased, and there was little confidence between 
man and man. The public credit had sunk, and was rapidly sinking, 
and its total prostration was apprehended. The rich were unable 
and unwilling to lend ; one class had already loaned to the extent of 
their means, and were pressing for payment, the other put their gold 
and their silver into their strong boxes and their iron chests, fearing 
the ravages of the tender laws. The interest of the public debt was 
accumulating, and there were no means of payment except by taxa- 
tion, and no objects of taxation excepting the lands. Many were 
traversing the country with their rags fluttering in the winds, 



General David Cobb. ' 7 

squalid with want, reekiiifj: with filtli, ofTending the senses, and 
shocking' the fcoliiips. 

The Htate ji^overnineiit well knew that any further delay in the pay- 
ment of the interest of tlio debt would produce calamities, which 
they dreaded even to anticipate, and ultimately destroy the {^ovcrn- 
nient. They made prodijrious efl'orts to sustain the public credit ; but 
taxation, heavy taxation, was tiieir only resource. They were well 
aware that this measure would be productive of temporary distress ; 
but as well did they know that if they did not adopt it, the escutch- 
eon of the state, which had borne none but hoiioralile eujblems, 
would be stamped with bankruptcy and fraud, and that the edifice of 
government already loosened in its foundations, would tumble into 
ruins. In one year taxes were imposed to the amount of more than 
half the income and available n)eans of the people. The canker of 
usury was already eating into the substance of the farmers, but a 
crisis had now arrived when the usurer closed his coffers, and refused 
to lend. The circulating money was not sufficient for the payment of 
the taxes — oxen, horses, cows and beds were seized by the collectors 
and sold at auction for a pittance. Creditors attached whatever the 
collector had spared. The court dockets bore interminable cata- 
logues of delinquent names. 

The deep and ominous sounds of discontent which at first were 
breathed in low murmurs, as the pressure increased, became louder, 
rose tiien to the tone of defiance, and at length the cries of rebellion 
in threats and imprecations, in screams and shouts, wild, discordant, 
and dreadful, rang through the astonished and horror stricken land 
— the clang of arms was heard — men rose to resist the laws, to be- 
siege not hostile fortresses, but the very temples in which the laws 
were administered — to conquer not a public enemy — not invading 
armies — but to conquer — Great God — to conquer their own courts of 
justice. 

The county court was to have been holden in the month of 
June, 1786. The suits already commenced, and about to be entered, 
if forced to judgment would cause the ruin of man}'; men wild with 
distress, ferocious with despair assembled in mobs. They were not 
armed it is true, but they breathed out the most horril)le threats 
against the court, whose official existence they were determined to 
annihilate. Although the people of Massaeliusetts will bear much 
before they resort to violence, yt^t many were then ready for the last 
and worst extremities. The court bell began to sound, the mol) be- 
gan to rage ; but to give some appearance of moderation to their 
proceedings they despatched a deputation to confer with the court. 
The mind of our warrior judge was fertile in resource ; he had al- 
ready' devised a plan to save the law from violation, satisfy the 
people, and preserve peace, llis plan was submitted to the court ; 
they all concurred. He proposed to the deputation that the court 
should be openc^d, the actions entered that attachments might be 
preserved, and then should adjourn without (Mitering the judgments. 
The deputation not being able to explain to the mob the result of 
their conference, a call was made for Judge Cobb. He instantly 
went amongst them, alone, and unarmed, and with that ready and 
clear elocution for which he was ever remarkable he explained the ar- 



8 * General David Cobb. 

rangeraent and convinced them of its advantages and its propriety. 
They dispersed shouting his praises. The next Court was to be 
holden in September. No means had been opened for the relief of the 
people — their debts had increased, and their burthens were almost 
intolerable. The spirit of resistance was then marked with deeper 
ferocity, and the determination that the courts should not sit, ap- 
peared to be general amongst all malcontents of the state. Our de- 
parted friend was no temporizing statesman. He saw that a crisis 
had arrived, when the law must be supported by force, or yielded to 
anarchy. He was equal to that crisis. None felt a deeper pity for 
the distresses of the people — but when to obtain a temporary relief, 
they sought to overthrow the laws and the government, the tender- 
ness of his character yielded to an imperious sense of duty, and he 
steeled his heart against the workings of a compassion fraught with 
woe to his country. He would not believe that armies involving 
treason against the commonwealth were the excesses of patriotic 
zeal; the destruction of social order a redress of grievances, or that 
rebellion and civil war were certain evidences of the true spirit of 
liberty. 

He was determined to support the court and the laws even to the 
shedding of blood. The militia were ordered out. Court day ar- 
rived. The robe of the judge was thrown aside. The martial garb 
was resumed — again the plume waved over his head, and the sword 
of the warrior flashed bright in the sunbeams. Sounds ominous and 
threatening arose from the mob. The blood of the people, the blood 
of the people is to be shed, was the cry, to the onset — but when 
steady at their posts the citizen soldiers were seen — extended in 
double lines from the doors of the Court House— when the resolute 
demeanor of the commander was observed — the tone of defiance sank 
to that of remonstrance, and the general was entreated to witlidraw 
his soldiers. " Away with your whining, was his determined and 
memorable reply. I will hold this court, if I hold it in blood. I will 
sit as a Judge, or I will die as a General." In an instant all was 
quieted — the mob stole off secretlj' and silently, and the laws 
triumphed. But the spirit was not yet quelled, the session of the 
supreme court was to follow in October. All the western counties 
were in rebellion, and the rebels were in arms. The spirit extended 
here. The insurgents rallied their whole force, armed themselves 
and appeared in battle array on yonder Green, with the avowed in- 
tention of preventing the sitting of the court by force — the disaffec- 
tion had spread wide and far, and in this whole county, with the ex- 
ception of one town, not one entire company could be rallied to the 
defense of the government — but these were no times for intimidation. 
Now look back to that scene. Some of you can remember it — aye re- 
member it as you remember the dark day of 1780. It was nearly 
forty-four years since. On one side of this village was posted a 
large body of armed insurgents — on the other the supporters of gov- 
ernment, the defenders of the laws. The cannon were planted — the 
matches were lighted and waving. The orders were peremptory that 
the court should sit — and there was every probability that they could 
not sit without a battle. Had the government selected for their 
commander one who was either rash or timid, our peaceful village 



General David Cobb. 9 

inip^ht have witnessed transactions equal in atrocity to the most hor- 
rible of the French revolution. The rosponsil)ility of the commander 
was ji^roat, but unconsciuus of wron^, Ik; felt no fear. Ho drew a 
lino with iiis sword on the ti^round — ho said to tiie rclxd leader, "pass 
tliat line and I firo, the blood be upon yonr own head." A^ain the 
laws triumphed — the line was not passed and the court sat in peace. 
In the night tlio insurg'ents dispersed, and from that day to tliis, in 
this county, not an arm has been raised to resist the civil authority. 

To these heroic men this state owes an everlastiiifj^ debt of grati- 
tude. Entrusted with the military power of the commonwealth, they 
preserved the peace and the laws, the liberties and the lives of the 
people. Never were men invested with such powers, wIkj performed 
their work with more intrepidity, or with less severity. Danger they 
laughed to scorn, and yet the sight of distress would melt either of 
them to tears. Like the war-horse of the scriptures, they thundered 
over the fields of battle and of blood, yet they fled even from the 
sight of the merited punishment of their own soldiers for offences 
against discipline. In war like the eagle they snuffed the carnage ; 
in peace tlie temper of the infant dove was not more gentle. There 
was no mixture of ruffian and hero in their hearts — like the knights 
of chivalry their blows were for giants, their tenderness for weak- 
ness, womanhood and infancy. Their names were Lincoln, Brooks, 
and Cobb, three of the major-generals of Massachusetts. Long, long 
will our people have reason to bless their memories — their mingled 
system of energy and gentleness quelled a wide-spread and danger- 
ous rebellion, and left no stain of blood behind. Why should they 
have exposed themselves to the perils and the toils of a civil war in 
defense of the rights of property? Like the other heroes of the revo- 
lution their gains in that service had been poverty and suffering and 
wounds and fears. Had the rebels succeeded and established an 
Agrarian law, they would have been the gainers. Two of them 
(B. and C.) led harder lives to earn a bare subsistence than the day 
laborer who lies down at night, and enjoj's the common blessings of 
man. The other involved in responsibilities for a companion in arms, 
dragged his halting limbs, maimed and mutilated in the battles of 
his country, to the doors of a prison, TIk; sight of the venerable 
prisoner bending under the weight of years, his iiead wiiitened in his 
country's service, yet bearing tlu? laurels of many fields of glory, 
softened even the obduracy of men, who could place a general of the 
Revolution in the hands of a sherifT, to extort from the compassion of 
friends the amount of their debts. Shame flushed their cheeks — the 
hero was nileased, and in time the del)ts were Imnorably paid. 

Poor as these men were, the considerations of gain or loss, of po- 
pularity or unpopularity never entered into their views. They had 
duties to perftjrm and that was enough. They would have performed 
them, they would have defended the courts, had their names been 
borne as dependent debt«jrs on half its entries and had its judgments 
and executions left them to pauperism and beggary. 

They are now beyond tin; reach of envy, and calumny can no longer 
riot on their characters. 

General Cobb, in May, 1789, was elected the sole representative of 
this town to the general court, and was instantly elevated to the 



10 General David Cobb. 

speaker's chair, which honorable oflBce he sustained until the termi- 
nation of the session which commenced in January. 1793, having- 
served four years as the representative of the town and as speaker 
of the house. He left the chair in consequence of having been elect- 
ed by the people of the whole state, according to a peculiar mode of 
choice then prevailing, a member of the third Congress, and took his 
seat in that body at the commencement of the second term of Wash- 
ington's administration, and was associated in legislative labors 
with Ames, Dexter, King, Madison, and Giles, and many other states- 
men of renown. He left congress in March, 1195, and in the follow- 
ing year removed with his family to a remote part of Maine. He 
now disappeared from public life, and devoted himself to agriculture 
—the cultivation and improvement of his farm. For this pursuit he 
cherished an inclination akin to enthusiasm, and nothing more de- 
lighted his heart, than a neat and thrifty cultivation of the land. 

He was destined, however, to run almost the same career in public 
life as that through which he had already passed, and to hold the 
same stations when an inhabitant of either extremity of the state. 
In 1802 he appeared as a senator from the Eastern District of Maine 
and was immediately elected president of the senate. In 1808 he 
was elected to the council, and in 1809 became the second magistrate 
of the state, by accepting the ofiBce of lieutenant-governor. After 
a short intermission he was restored to councils of the state, and 
during the war of 1812 was one of the board of military defence. 
While a resident of Maine he was appointed chief justice of the 
court of common pleas, for the county of Hancock, and major-general 
of the 10th division of the state militia. In a few years after the 
termination of the war (1815) he retired from public life, and after 
a short residence in Maine, he returned to his natal spot, to end his 
days. 

Such is the narrative of the long career in public life and office of 
General David Cobb. He was perhaps the most distinguished of our 
citizens. Aside from the gratitude which is his due as a great public 
benefactor he is specially entitled to ours. If we were sometimes 
vexed by the tartness of his reproofs for our want of public spirit, 
yet candor must admit that his rebukes were intended for good, and 
that he had given the strongest evidences of his attachment to our 
welfare. He was the parent of our flourishing academy and through 
his influence and that alone, was that magnificent donation obtained 
from the state, which now supports it. He devised the plan of a 
fund for the support of the ministry, and to him mainl}' is the First 
Congregational Society indebted for its present ample means. 
Whenever any public good was to be eff'ected, whether in founding 
institutions for the support of education, the advancement of morals, 
the purposes of charity, or the honor of the public, he was active and 
efficient, giving all his services, and contributing from his own re- 
sources to the full extent of his means. As a physician he was saga- 
cious, learned and eminently successful. His presence brought com- 
fort to the bed of the sick, the alleviations of art, the sonthings of 
humanity, the words of solace and hope. As a soldier he was fearless 
and intrepid, calm and collected in danger, rapid and decisive in 
judgment, and prompt in execution. 



General David Cobb. 1 1 

To tlio courts ho brong'ljt a competent knowledp^c of the law. Al- 
thf)U}^h ho was not a lawyer, hJH clear perceptioiiH and strong sense 
eiiablf-d him to detect Hophistry, and to remove the impediments 
with which artifice and legal ingenuity, too often contrive to embar- 
rass the progress of justice. 

As a politician he was distinguished for his love of order, and his 
attaLhnient to tiie constitution. 1I<! was never turned aside from an 
honorable course by any considerations of interest or popularity. 
He met all questions with an intrepid heart. lie looked to the great 
and permanent interests of his coujitry and to those interests he de- 
voted iiimself with all his heart and all his soul. 

As the presiding officer of a public body he was unrivalled. 
Graceful and dignilied in his deportment, quick to perceive and clear 
to explain, he dispatched the public business with ease and facility, 
and won by his impartial performance of the duties of the chair, even 
the confidence and the praises of his adversaries. 

He was the friend of genius wherever he found it, no matter in 
what association, no matter in what party. His eagle eye could dis- 
cover the concealed Ulysses even before he had bent the bow, and 
when he doflfed his rags, and blazed out like a God. The trium- 
phant smile of the speaker announced the overthrow of dullness and 
the victory of intellect. 

It is generally the calamity of age, as time paralyzes the strength 
and tames the passions, and contemporaries one by one drop away, 
to disregard the social comforts and enjoyments, to depreciate 
the times in which they live, by constantly forming injurious and 
querulous comparisons with those which are past, drawing their soli- 
tary draughts of pleasure from the fountains of recollection, linger- 
ing in tlie world with gloomy reluctance, like strangers in a country 
to whose usages they are not accustomed, and with who.sc inhabi- 
tants they are not familiar. 

Not so with our friend, he never lingered in the race of life — he 
kept ever with the times. Instead of confining his associations to 
the narrow circle of his contemporaries — he went into the great 
world and extracted all its comforts — he used the true philosophy of 
life and multiplied his pleasures by taking a lively interest in the 
pleasures and in the happiness of his friends and neighbors. He 
rejoiced in their prosperity — h<; never felt that miserable and rancor- 
ous envy which seen)s to make some men believe that such thrift is 
at their expense. He had no narrow views. He delighted to watch 
the progress of those improvements in science and in the arts, and 
to witness their practical application to the purposes of life, by 
■which the conveniences and comforts of man are increased. This 
disp<j.sition often led him into the society of the young and of those 
in active life. He even went further, he drank of the stream of 
harmletss pleasure from its uppermost fountain, and participated in 
the anticipations of pleasure, the keen perception of the joys of life 
■which none but children feel, when excited by novelty they call up 
their puny powers to grasp new objects of knowledge ; he answered 
their eager enquiries with kindness, and called forth for their delight 
those blandishments of manner which seldom failed to win, whenever 
he condescended to apply them. Upotj the whole he was a patriot 



12 General David Cobb. 

without ambition, a philanthropist without vanity, a statesman with- 
out selfishness. The steady friend of order, morals, and education, des- 
titute of all sickly sensibility ; his heart was tender, making no pro- 
fessions of patriotism, he would have laid down his life for his coun- 
try. He was too proud to flatter, and too honest to deceive. 

With the delight of a mind in the spring tide of youth, with all its 
buoyancy, with all its vivacity, he read the wonderful productions 
of modern genius — those new and miraculous creations of fancy 
which have revived in this business age — the empire of romance over 
the human heart. 

There are some who acquire much reputation for wisdom by as- 
suming a grave aspect and dealing out from their scanty store, little 
driblets of knowledge — magnifying trifles — imposing upon the vul- 
gar by a pedantic parade of truisms and nothings — like tiie bird of 
Minerva looking wise, but hurting naught but little mice. He dis- 
dained all this quackery, this mockery of true wisdom. His was a 
mind which poured forth a constant stream of knowledge. There 
was no parade, no aifectation of learning in bim. He threw off from 
the superabundance of his mental riches, maxims which might have 
instructed sages and statesmen, and thoughts whicii sparkled and 
blazed and burned with all the fire of a poet, reaching his conclusions 
by a luminous path, and showing his whole course by flashes of elo- 
quent demonstration. 

His manners and disposition were sucli that he was equally the 
delight of the commanding general and the humble private. When- 
ever he appeared at the social board, his wit and humor— his fund 
of anecdote and power of pleasing, gave a zest to tlie intercourse 
and a blander character to the feasts of heroes — and well did he 
know 

" The art 
To win the soldier's hardy heart." 

Associated as a member of the family of Washington with the po- 
lished courteous warriors of France — the high bred cavaliers of 
Rochambeau's army, he well maintained the character of the country 
whose arms he bore, and they soon found that it was not climate, or 
country, or courts, which fashioned the gentleman. With him con- 
versation never degenerated into dull prosing or tedious narrative. 
He never imposed on his company his own topics, but seizing theirs, 
he discovered such facility of illustration, such a glowing imagina- 
tion — such a vivacious and almost poetical flow of language, and 
such varied and universal knowledge that if he failed to convince — 
he never failed to charm. This talent remained to the last, it shone 
out in the evening of his life, like the last flashes of the thunder 
cloud, frequently the brightest. 

Anacreon might with more than poetical propriety have addressed 
his celebrated apostrophe to him, 

" Now I love the mellow sage. 
Smiling tlirough the veil of age, 
And whene'er the man of years 
In the dance of joy appears, 
.■\ge is on liis temples hung, 
But his heart — his heart is young." 



General David Cobb. 13 

There are some other conBi'dcrations connected with his life, char- 
acter, and actions, f^rowinj^ more particiiliirly ont of liis preat age, 
and the wondcrfnl events which he had witiiessfd, dcservinp, as I 
think, of some notice. Ho was a venerahh; nionnnu-nt of aneit-nt 
times and ancient manners. He did not seem Mice one cut ofl" from 
the livitifj;' p^eneration. He stood anionj^st ns, it i.s tnio, as the man 
of other ag^es, bnt yet he was one of ns. His sympathies were in 
commoji with ours, yet he connected ns with the days of oM, tiie men 
of otiier times, and familiarized to onr ap|)rehensionsevents which now 
come like the shadows of tlie dead npon tiie imaj^inations of the living. 
He K)oked back on the train of wonderfnl events which he iiad wit- 
nessed with tlie wisdom of a phih)S()pher, but witli tiie frelings of a 
man. Age had neither chilled his blood, nor frozen his heart. I 
have said that he was a favorite scholar of President Holyok(>; this 
association carries us back to the first settlement of the country — 
for the president had arrived at adolescence before the death of the 
first born of New England. When he began to comprehend, the 
legends of antiquity came fresh and glowing from those who not 
only received tliein from the holy seers of New England, but who 
saw the wonders themselves, who could tell him of the Endicotts, the 
Winthrops and the Dudleys, those iron-nerved pilgrims who bnilt up 
the church of Christ and the temple of liberty in the Anieric:in wil- 
derness ; of the mystic eloquence of Vane, Sir Henry, of Leverett 
who fought by the side of Oliver Cromwell ; of those terrible men 
who sat in judgment on their king, and doomed to the axe tiie head 
whicli had worn a crown ; of that romantic war, the exploits of Church, 
and the desolations of Philip, where men fought for the existence of 
the English race. 

But the president himself saw many marvellous things and knew 
many wonderful men. He heard with his own ears the tiery and im- 
passioned eloquence of the Cookes, father and son, who for fift}' years 
wielded the fierce democracy of Massachusetts, and in the royal 
presence itself, qtiestioned the mandates of royalty. He saw his 
countrymen arraj'od in arms and on the march to achieve that mag- 
nificent enterprise, which has shed such glory on our provincial his- 
tory. But let us examine what our friend himself has known and 
seen. He knew the talented, eccentric and unfcu'tunate Sliirlcy, 
once the pride of Massachusetts. He tieard the wail mingling with 
the slnnit which announced the victory, and the fall of Wolfe. He 
saw the commencement and the termination, and he was an actor, and 
an important one too, in that tremendous conflict which gained an 
empire to the world, and lost it to the British crown. He heard the 
first and the last trumpet blasts wliicli issued from the lips of James 
Otis. He saw the budding and the blasting of that mighty mind 
which shook a throne and reared a republic. 

For more than four years he stood by the side of George Washing- 
ton on the battle-field, and in the tent he shared his councils — he 
heard the sound of liis voice, he felt the pressure of his hand, gras|> 
ing his own in the spirit of friendship. He witnessed the rise and 
fall of states and empires. 

He witnessed the overthrow of thrones and of races of kings 



14 General David Cobb. 

which had endured for a thousand years, and he lived to witness 
their wonderful restoration. 

He saw the rise, the progress and the fall of the master spirit of 
the age, the modern Alexander, who bore the republican banner of 
France and his own imperial eagles from Egypt to Moscow; whose 
ambition encompassed the ends of the earth, and grasped the world. 

He saw the first action of our national constitution; and he assist- 
ed in framing the organic laws on which depend the prosperity and 
the grandeur of the nation. He saw our manufactures confined to 
forges and smithy. He lived to see with his own eyes the existence 
of a power and capacity in this, to rival nations whose experimental 
knowledge has been the growth of centuries. 

Our commerce, in his youth confined to miserable river craft, 
creeping along the shores and gathering the scanty articles of traffic 
from a poverty-stricken country, he lived to see encompassing the 
world and condensing its wealth; a navy formed under his own eye, 
before which the crescent of Mahomet has waned — before which the 
tri-colored flag of France has been struck — before which the pride 
of the queen of the ocean has been humbled. 

He lived to see the population of his country swelled from one 
million to twelve; and to see this population surmount the barrier of 
the Alleghany, sweep down the magnificent rivers of the west, pass 
the mighty Mississippi, the father of the waters, and advancing with 
certain and rapid steps to plant the banner of the republic on the 
shores of the Pacific. 

This view could be expanded into a volume; but I am compelled to 
forbear. It is enough to wonder at the past. In anticipating the 
future, imagination itself is bewildered, astonished and paralyzed. 

I come now to the closing scene, when that bold spirit which had 
borne its full part in the great events of the last sixty years was 
about to take its flight; when that hardy frame which had braved 
the blasts of the winter, the burning sun of the summer, the night 
storm, and the battlefield; which had found its resting place on a 
rock, with a snow bank for a pillow, was extended, weak, prostrate 
and helpless, on the bed of death. Then when the hand of fate was 
upon him, when that dark curtain which separates the living from 
the dead, which, like the curtain that enveloped the sacred spot of 
the temple, and concealed from the eyes of mortals the things conse- 
crated to God, was about to fall, he called back to his mind the 
thoughts, the feelings of his youth — his early recollections — his 
early associations. 

" Et dulces moriens reminiscitur Argos." 

The home of his heart was here, and here he chose his grave. 

When he was laid in that quiet place "where the wicked cease 
from troubling, and the weary are at rest," the glorious sun was 
sinking beneath the western horizon, and the shades of evening were 
about to fall. No banner waved over his humble grave; no martial 
dirge sent forth its mingled strains of wail and triumph; no thunder 
from the cannon announced the fall of a hero. He well knew the 
heartlessness of public exhibitions of sorrow, and refused to have 
his grave profaned with " the mockery of woe." 



General David Cobb. 16 

Wlien hifl kindred had departod, one stood at his grave who loved 
him well; and as he saw the first earth thrown npon his cofTin, he 
asked himself this question — Is this the end? Will nothing remain 
of that bright spirit, which once animated that lifeless body, but the 
dust, soon to be mingled with that which covers it? Can it be pos- 
sible that those lofty aspirations which grasped at a higher world, 
by seeking the good of man in this, — those deep philosophic con- 
templations on the nature of intellect — those profound moral max- 
ims, bearing the impress of a gonius which, in its contemplations, 
soared above the earth — those briglit imaginations, almost breathing 
of the inspirations of prophecy — that divine flame, pervading the 
bosom of the philanthropist, kindling the fancy of the poet, warning 
the heart of the hero, seeming to come fresh from a fountain, whose 
waters having been " troubled by an angel," were mingled with fire, 
and flashing with beams of living light, can be nothing but modifica- 
tions of vile matter, the work, the action of a machine of clay, 
perishable and mortal! No; let the atheist — let the man without a 
God, console himself with such belief, I will believe that the think- 
ing mind is a spark from Heaven, changeless and immortal. I will 
believe that there is a stream of light issuing from the grave, pene- 
trating the darkness, and mingling with that ocean of light — that 
light that never yields to darkness — that light that eternally sur- 
rounds the throne of God. I will believe that my venerable friend 
exists — exists in happiness, that his sins are forgiven, " for he loved 
much " — that in the house of our common Father, " where there are 
many mansions," there is one at least for him. 

General Cobb was born Sept., 1748. Died April 17, 1830. 



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